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dedicated to Baron Napier of Merchiston; and in 1624 he published his "Chilias Logarithmorum," an imperfect table of logarithms. In 1618 Kepler published at Linz the three first books of his "Epitome Astronomiæ Copernicanæ." The fourth book was published at the same place in 1622; and in the same year the fifth, sixth, and seventh books appeared at Frankfort. This work, which contains a summary of his astronomical discoveries, was prohibited both at Rome and Florence, to the great annoyance of its author.

In 1620 when Sir Henry Wotton our ambassador at Venice was passing through Germany, he paid a visit to Kepler, and urged him to take up his residence in England. It has been supposed that this invitation was prompted by King James I.; but Kepler declined it, and preferred his fatherland to a foreign country, in which he had no distinct offer of a comfortable home. When Ferdinand succeeded to the imperial throne, he ordered the arrears of Kepler's salary to be paid, and supplied the means of publishing the Rudolphine Tables, which appeared at Ulm in one volume folio in 1628. Honours and appointments were now showered down upon our astronomer. The grand-duke of Tuscany sent him a gold chain in approbation of his services to science; and the duke of Friedland induced him, by the munificence of his offers to settle at Sagan in Silesia. He removed his wife and family to Ratisbon in 1629; and having received permission from the emperor to accept of the offer of the duke of Friedland, he took up his residence at Sagan in the same year. By the duke's influence he was appointed to a professorship in the university of Rostock. During his residence at this place he published his last work, entitled "Terrentii epistolium cum commentatiunculâ," which appeared at Sagan in 1830, and in which he commented on a letter of the Chinese missionary Terrentio, addressed to the jesuits at Ingolstadt. In this letter he proposes to improve the Chinese calendar, and maintains that the Chinese had fabricated their ancient astronomical observations by computing them backwards.

The arrears of his salary had again been allowed to accumulate, and now amounted to eight thousand crowns. In the hopes of obtaining it he went to Ratisbon; but having failed in his mission, the fatigue of the journey, combined with mental anxiety, threw him into a fever, accompanied with an imposthume in his brain, which carried him off on the 5th November, 1630, in the sixtieth year of his age, leaving behind him a wife, three daughters, and four sons, all of whom died young excepting Louis, who died a physician at Königsberg in 1663. The remains of Kepler were interred in St. Peter's churchyard at Ratisbon; and an inscription was engraven on his tombstone including the following epitaph by himself:—

Mensus eram cælos, nunc terræ metior umbras:
Mens cælestis erat, corporis umbra jacet.

This monument was destroyed during the wars which raged in Germany; but in 1803 the prince-bishop of Constance erected near the place where Kepler was interred, and in the botanical gardens, a monumental temple surmounted by a sphere, and having in its centre a bust of the astronomer in Carrara marble.

In addition to the discoveries and opinions we have mentioned, Kepler maintained the doctrine of the mutual gravitation of matter. He gave the first rational theory of the tails of comets. He employed an empirical rule for atmospherical refraction, which, as Delambre remarks, does not err more than 9´´ for all altitudes above 20°. He ascribed the luminous ring in total eclipses of the sun to refractions through the moon's atmosphere. He computed and announced the transit of Mercury over the sun on the 7th November, 1631, which was observed by Gassendi at Paris. He announced also a transit of Venus in the same year, which did not take place, and another in 1761, which was everywhere observed.

The works of Kepler are numerous. Between 1599 and 1630 he published thirty-three separate works; and he left behind him twenty-two volumes of manuscripts, some of which contain his epistolary correspondence. These MSS. were purchased by Hevelius, at whose death they were bought by Gottlieb Hansch, who in 1714 proposed to publish them by subscription, in 22 vols. folio. With pecuniary aid from Charles VI. he published in 1718, in one vol. folio, all his letters, with a life of the author. After various attempts to dispose of the other MSS., they were purchased in 1773 for four thousand francs by the Imperial Academy of Sciences at St. Petersburg, in whose library they still remain. An admirable life of Kepler will be found in the Library of Useful Knowledge by the late Mr. Drinkwater Bethune, and one of a more popular character in Sir David Brewster's Martyrs of Science.—D. B.

KEPPEL, Augustus, Viscount, a celebrated English admiral, was the second son of William, earl of Albemarle, and was born in 1725. He entered the naval service at an early age, and accompanied Anson in his voyage round the world. His ability and courage, as well as his family influence, procured him rapid promotion, and in 1758 he was intrusted with the command of the armament which captured the French island of Goree. Three years later he was sent with ten sail-of-the-line, having nine thousand soldiers on board, commanded by General Hodgson, to attack the island of Belleisle, and contributed greatly to the success of the hazardous and difficult enterprise. In 1778 Keppel, now raised to the rank of an admiral, was intrusted with the command of the Channel fleet, and on the 27th of July, with twenty ships-of-the-line, he fell in off Ushant with a French fleet of superior numbers under Count D'Arvilliers; an engagement immediately took place, which was terminated without any decisive result by the approach of night. During the night the French, taking advantage of the darkness, made their escape back to Brest; and next morning Keppel finding it impossible to overtake the enemy, returned to Portsmouth. This inglorious result of the conflict with the French fleet excited a loud outcry throughout the country, and Sir Hugh Palliser, who commanded the rear of the British fleet in the engagement, brought forward charges against his superior officer for misconduct and neglect of duty. The admiralty, in consequence, ordered a court-martial for the trial of the admiral. It was held at Portsmouth, and after thirty-two days' sitting, came to a unanimous decision that the charges were malicious and ill-founded, and that Keppel had acted in all respects as became a judicious, brave, and experienced officer. The tide of public opinion ran high in favour of the admiral, who soon after received the thanks of both houses of parliament, and was presented with the freedom of the city of London; and for two successive nights the metropolis and Manchester were illuminated for joy at his triumph. Admiral Keppel was so much dissatisfied with the treatment he had received from the government, that he solicited and obtained permission to strike his flag. In 1780, Admiral Keppel having lost his seat for Windsor through the influence of the court, was elected member for Surrey, and in 1782 he was raised to the peerage, and made first lord of the admiralty in Lord Rockingham's administration—an office which he filled again at a later period. He died in 1786 unmarried, and his title became extinct. Admiral Keppel was a skilful and brave seaman, and a man of the highest integrity and humanity. Burke, in his celebrated Letter to a Noble Lord, pronounces a glowing eulogium on Lord Keppel's goodness of heart, his reason, his taste, his public duty, and his principle. "I ever looked upon him," he says, "as one of the greatest and best men of his age, and I loved and cultivated him accordingly."—J. T.

KER, John, of Kersland, was professor of Hebrew in the university of Edinburgh, and was employed in several important political negotiations during the reigns of William and Mary, and Anne. He married the heiress of the Crawfords of Kersland, a prominent family among the Scottish covenanters, and became the leader of this sect. The jacobites made overtures to the Cameronians through him, but he was in reality an agent of the government, and betrayed all their intrigues. He was the author of "Selectæ de Lingua Latina Observationes," 8vo, 1709; "Memoirs and Secret Negotiations," 3 vols., 1726. A supplementary volume was afterwards published, containing certain passages omitted from the original MSS.—J. T.

KERATRY, Auguste Hilarion de, a French author and politician, born at Rennes, 28th October, 1769. In 1818 he was deputy for Finisterre, and in 1837 was made a peer of France. He wrote a large number of works on philosophy, social economy, French history, and art.—P. E. D.

KERGUELEN-TREMAREC, Ives Joseph de, a French navigator, born in Brittany in 1734. In 1767 he was intrusted with the command of a frigate employed in protecting the cod-fisheries in the North Sea. In 1771, and again in 1773, he was sent on voyages of discovery to the Southern Ocean, and has left his name in Kerguelen's Land, afterwards termed by Cook the Isle of Desolation. On his return he was accused of inhumanity to some of his men, and was imprisoned for some time on evidence which has been considered doubtful. He died